I posted an article a while ago that went into a number of places online that you can search and download various fonts for free. Here.

Well I am in the process of creating my own children’s e-book as well as finishing up my first exclusive e-book with Julia Dweck called, “Mary Had A Sleepy Sheep.” (Achem, be sure to like our fan page on Facebook.) The publisher made sure to tell me that any font I used had to be licensed for commercial work. Believe it or not, this was the first time a publisher had even mentioned that as a requirement. At the beginning of my process I had researched and looked on my favorite free font sites and found the fonts that I thought would work best with my book. I’d paid no attention to the lic. status of those fonts. Uh-Oh!

So what does licensed for commercial work mean?

It means that people who create fonts have just as many rights to their work as any other artist. A font being up for free doesn’t presume that you can use that font in any way you choose. Just like artists only sell certain rights to publishers or clients for their images, the same is true for designers who create fonts. In general most fonts that are free give you the right to use it for personal purposes. Which means it should only be used and displayed, not sold. Some designers will want credit cited if you post or display any works of yours that have used their fonts in them. While others hold no such requirements.

Licensed for Commercial Work means that the designer has given you permission to use their font in for profit or commercial purposes. The stipulations for this, again, can vary from designer to designer. Some will want credit given while others may ask for a small donation. All of this is done of course on the honor system. You are still able to download the font but not adhering to what the designer has asked can result in you being in a copyright infringement situation should you be caught. So tread carefully. In most instances the designers instructions on how and when you can use their font gets downloaded as a text file with the font itself as well as being displayed in some way on the site that you find and download it from.

Unfortunately I have yet to find an easy way to search font sites to only find ones that are lic. commercially. (Nothing like finding the perfect font and realizing that it’s only licensed if you buy it outright. This can cost in the hundreds of dollars depending on the font.) Luckily on the front page of FontSquirrel they’ve compiled a list of what they deem as the best free lic. fonts to download. Many of which would be suitable for a children’s e-book. So get to bookmarking and enjoy!

CGtextures.com is a great resource to find photo textures for your images. None of these photos will win any photography competitions. The images are, for the most part, flat and evenly lit and have straight on camera angles. And that’s the point. You add the interest when adding them to your illustrations, 3D models, logos or graphic design projects. I’ve started to build up my own personal texture library from stock photo sites and other free textures I’ve found around the web. It’s been a long expensive process and now that I found this site I feel like a sucker for paying for textures. Trying to find nice high-quality images on the internets has been the most challenging part. But CGtextures.com has a large selection of high-quality images organized well for you to download for free. Continue reading

When I was in college (which was a very long time ago) we didn’t have tiny thumbnails to store tons of images on. Nor was the internet a vast repository for images and reference that it is now. So we relied on tearing images out of magazines and filing them under auspicious titles in manilla envelopes. (National Geographic was particularly favored among my classmates!) We called this our “morgue”. Needless to say I had a huge file cabinet filled with various images that no matter how many images I ripped and put in folders never seemed to be suitable for the illustrations I wanted to do.

Now we use our computers and the internet to be the go to place for finding reference and resources. Morgues are no longer needed. Yet and still whenever I run across an image, tutorial or inspiring website, I file it away in my digital morgue for future reference. So today I dug through my digi-morgue and found this cool little tutorial that goes over the basics of drawing folds in clothes and the basics of how they work. In the coming weeks Norm and i will continue to showcase informative tidbits from our morgues for you to add to yours! Enjoy and file away!

Like most digital artists Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade fame had been looking for ways to do his drawings on the go. He tried an iPad and that just didn’t work for what he was trying to do. Next he gave the Microsoft Surface Pro Tablet a shot at one of the MS stores. After giving it a test drive he mentioned on Twitter that he was interested in the Surface Pro as a drawing tablet. Microsoft provided a preview unit for him to test out and he made this video of him creating a drawing of one of the Penny arcade characters.

I personally have been looking for a mobile drawing solution and would love to find a great product to draw on. Krahulik said of the Surface Pro, “As a mobile solution for a digital artist I’d say the Surface Pro is a winner.” This is the second artist I’ve heard give their endorsement of this product. I first got excited about the Surface Pro when I heard that MS was using Wacom tech in their screens. One of the main drawbacks he ran into was Photoshop not supporting pressure sensitivity (at this point). So Krahulik used sketchbook Pro to complete his illustration. Sketchbook Pro and Manga studio five have pressure sensitivity available for the Surface Pro. Mike also said “Sketching with the Stylus in Sketchbook was awesome. It’s important to note that you CAN lay your hand on the screen while you draw without messing up your work. There was no brush lag at all and the pressure sensitivity worked perfectly. The stylus itself felt exactly like drawing on my Cintiq except that the Surface screen is smooth whereas the Cintiq screen has a bit of texture to it.” Being a Sketchbook Pro user this certainly has me excited. And trying to figure out how to trade in my iPad for a Surface Pro tablet.

Over the weekend I ran across this inspiring video. In it, a number of Disney artists walk you through a bit of their process in developing characters and story for their feature animated movies. Whenever I see things like this I marvel at the process and how similar it can be to what we go through as children’s illustrators when we develop a book. Wonderfully inspiring!

And do I dare mention that I now have a huge crush on Eyvind Earle’s painting skills. GORGEOUS! I wonder what you call that? Enjoy!

Last week the Big Illustration Party Time Podcast returned from a long two year hiatus. Kevin Cross and Joshua Kemble return as the fun and engaging hosts. They speak from their personal experience as they share practical “ins and outs” of the life of a freelance illustrator. From interviews to listener questions they discuss what it takes to make it as a freelance artist. Personally, when I started my illustration business I had been listening to their podcast and taking notes. I remember the first couple of episodes having a lot of good information, but I’m not sure about that because after 50+ episodes the information starts to all run together. Thanks to Kevin and Joshua for putting out such a great resource for all of us illustrators. And another thanks to Mr. Cross for helping us get our own podcast off the ground.

Here’s the link to there site where you can find the episodes and valuable show notes. Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

In a previous article we brought to your attention the changes to copyright law in the UK. Of note in that article was that one way of protecting yourself was using metadata to identify your work. A digital signature of a sort.

I recently ran across an article that details how to do this using Adobe Bridge. (A program I have but have only used once.)

We put the beginning of the article here, but you’ll need to follow the link to see the rest.

There is little you can do to stop someone who is determined to steal your images. Watermarks are easily removed and website scripts are defeated with a simple screen grab. These attempts only mar your work and make your site difficult to navigate.

In this tutorial I’m not talking about protection from image thiefs, I’m talking about protection from lost opportunities. Times when your images are inevitably downloaded, blogged, cropped, reblogged, faved and saved, and end up orphaned on someone’s hard drive, ffffound, imgfave, tumblr, or email—especially when that person likes your work and would really love to hire you, if they could just figure out where the image came from.

This happens more often than you think; art directors are constantly grabbing images whenever and wherever they see them, but seldom have the time to organize them and make note of where they came from (they should really be using Evernote). Months or even years down the road they might find your image floating in a random folder, uselessly renamed li4tceEqMb1qe.jpg by Tumblr, your name & website address croppped by an ignorant blogger leaving TinEye with no results.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could tuck your name, website and keywords and copyright information into every image to avoid this situation? You can—using Metadata.

Metadata is data about data—like the Created and Modified dates you see attached to every file on your computer. It’s like a little text file appended to files only adding a few bytes to the total file size. You might already be familiar with EXIF metadata added to JPGs by digital cameras, scanners and phones. The metadata I’m talking about in this tutorial is IPTC, but all you need to know is that by the end you’ll be able to embed your name, website, email, phone number, address and copyright into every image—automagically.

Batch Add Metadata to your Images
with Adobe Bridge

The first thing you’ll want to do is add metadata to all the images you have online, so that when your image goes walkabout, your name and contact information go with it.

1. Make a local backup of your website. Download all your images, or your whole site if it makes it easier, using FTP. Having an exact copy of your website on your hard drive is good practice anyway. Make another local copy, or a ZIP of your entire site in case something goes wrong.

2. Open Adobe Bridge. I am not a fan of Bridge, but this is one thing it’s actually good at. You can also use free tools, but your mileage may vary.

Here’s an inspiring video by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. In this video he visits a school and shares his process of becoming a illustrator/writer with the kids. His story sounds like a lot of other artists out there. Going to school, sending out postcards and never hearing anything back. But the thing that sets him apart from others is that he continues to work at his goal never stopping until he reaches it. This video is not the most in-depth but I still found it inspiring. Watching the kids interact with him as he tells his story really reminded me of why I do what I do. For a more in depth look at Jarrett’s journey visit his TED Talks on How a boy became an artist!. But in the meantime, give it a watch and let us know what you think about it in the comments.

This is a great little video that I ran across from MidSouth SBWI that goes through the do’s and don’ts of what to put in your Children’s book portfolio. We often forget those standards and we thought it a good idea to put up a quick reminder to the folks who have been doing this a while as well as the ones just starting. Always keep an eye on your portfolio and make sure it’s in tip top shape for an Art Director’s eyes.
Enjoy!

Also note all the great work being featured in the video! Including the work of OnceUponASketch contributor Mary Reaves Uhles!

This month on the Once Upon a Sketch podcast we welcome around table of children’s book artists to discuss Adobe switching their software model. Donald Wu, Chris Jones and Mary Reaves Uhles join Wilson and I to give our thoughts and reactions to the Creative Cloud announcement. From how it affects small one person companies to is it worth it to make the move to the cloud. We try to figure out these questions.

Donald Wu –
Born in Hong Kong, Donald grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area after moving there as a child. Years of drawing doodles in school along with a love of comic books led him to study illustration at the California College of the Arts. While at school, Donald was introduced to many different mediums ranging from watercolors to acrylics. Although Donald started his career using traditional mediums, Donald has since made the transition to digital medium. Donald continues to reside and “doodle” in the San Francisco Bay Area.WebsiteAgents website

Chris Jones –
I’m an illustrator with an expressive and humorous style that is fun and engaging. I’m equally comfortable working on picture books, or sequentially in comics/cartoons.Born near Toronto, Canada, and raised on comic books, red licorice, and Saturday morning cartoons, I’ve been drawing with a passion ever since I could hold a crayon!I’m a Graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, and a member of: the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the Picture Book Artists Association.WebsiteTwitter

Mary Reaves Uhles –
Mary Reaves Uhles has worked for over a decade creating art for children. Her pieces have been included in books and magazines around the world. Prior to beginning her career as a freelance illustrator, Mary worked as an animator on projects for Warner Brothers and Fisher-Price Interactive. To this day her work features a cinematic quality essential to bringing characters to life.WebsiteTwitter

Norm Grock –
Norm Grock has been drawing since before he even learned to swim which is saying a lot considering he grew up in Hawaii. Since leaving the Islands’ beautiful beaches and landing in Oregon he went to college and received a degree in graphic design. Now living in Portland, Oregon, Norm spends countless hours perfecting his craft as a freelance illustrator working on several children’s books. With over 15 years in the children’s entertainment industry Norm would like to start working on his passions and create his own intellectual properties.WebsiteTwitter

Wilson Williams, Jr –
I have been a professional commercial artist and designer for over thirteen years. My pens, pencils and wacom pen have been drawing and painting images from my imagination my entire life. My work is whimsical, fun and captures the measure of my spirit.WebsiteTwitter

About

Once upon a sketch was founded to give insight, education and news about the many facets of the Children’s Illustration Market. From Children’s Books to Character Design, Game Art, Storyboarding, Toys and licensed Products you’ll find articles, interviews and resources to help fuel your education and growth. Jump in and learn more about the various industries from working professionals and find out what it takes to become successful in this field.